Bearings embodying the present invention may be used in aircraft, for example, to guide control shafts for jet engine vanes because such bearings are light-weight and may be selflubricating. Such bearings also may be used in a marine environment, with hinges of doors of military landing crafts or ships, and latching mechanism for watertight doors because such bearings are resistant to salt water. In any application of a braided bearing embodying the present invention, the bearing may be exposed to rotational, oscillatory, or reciprocal stresses or a combination of such stresses transmitted by an associated shaft or other part.
An example of a flanged bearing is disclosed in Runton U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,248, and takes the form of a washer punched or cut from a sheet of fabric. Another bearing of the same general type is disclosed in Gatke U.S. Pat. No. 2,128,087, to Gatke, and takes the form of a cylindrical bushing made by rolling a sheet of fabric or coiling a strip of fabric into the shape of a cylinder. However, either mode of construction disclosed in '087 leaves an undesirable seam. Although it is possible to bond the cylindrical bushing of '087 to the washer of '248 by epoxy to make a flanged bushing, the epoxy bond is not strong or durable enough for some applications.
Another way to make a flanged bushing is to begin with an elongated cylindrical journal bushing of the type discussed in '087 and then make longitudinal cuts in an end portion of the cylinder to form strips which remain attached at one end to the remainder of the cylinder. Then these strips may be bent radially outward, and rigidified in the radial position with a thermosetting, thermoplastic or other type resin. However, this process takes several steps, and the bushing's flange strength is reduced by cuts in the fiber, resulting in discontinuous fibers connecting the flange to the cylindrical journal.
A flanged, cylindrical, fluid or electrical conduit comprising braided fibers and a hardened resin polyimide is disclosed in Ahrens U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,058, as well as the method for making the conduit. The Ahrens patent is not directed towards bearing technology and, therefore, provides no guidance as to the type of fiber, fiber configuration, resin selection or selection of any other parameters which would be useful in bearing design. A shaped, braided hollow body having a varying cross-section is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,207.
Other types of bearings used in aircraft and marine environments consist of powdered carbon which has been compressed into a hollow, cylindrical shape and encased in an outer metal jacket. The jacket may also include a collar or flange used to position the cylindrical body in a housing and absorb axial loads or thrusts. There are often hundreds of bushings in a jet engine, and these carbon type bushings have an appreciable size and weight in the aircraft in which they are used. Also, it is not uncommon for such a metal encased carbon bearing to come loose from its housing, in which case the bearing may be moved relative to the housing by frictional forces transmitted by an associated shaft, and wear the housing because of the metal jacket.